


On the Properties of Love

by StardustDreamsandAnarchy



Category: Dimension 20 (Web Series), Dimension 20 Fantasy High
Genre: Anxiety, Bad Parenting, Campaign 01 Season 01: Fantasy High Freshman Year (Dimension 20), Childhood Trauma, Dysfunctional Family, Emotional Baggage, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Family Dynamics, Family Issues, Gen, Love, Sibling Rivalry, Siblings, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24433093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StardustDreamsandAnarchy/pseuds/StardustDreamsandAnarchy
Summary: Aelwyn knows how the world works. You work hard to better yourself, you hope to make your parents proud, and if they are, maybe you'll be happy. These were simple facts, but when she gets a little sister, the simple rules of her life begin to break down and she has to work even harder to keep the stability she had gotten used to.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 32





	1. Toddler-Childhood

Love was earned.  
Aelwyn knew that. She’d learned it very early on from her parents.  
The rules were clear: Do as they say, Never make a fuss, Make them proud. That’s how you earned love. It was all very obvious.  


When her parents first got married, they didn’t love each other. Their marriage had been a political one to join two powerful Fallinelian families. Angwyn had already proven himself a powerful wizard and was working his way up the ranks in the Court of Stars, Arianwen was a celebrated researcher. By the time Aelwyn was born, the two had been together for nearly two centuries and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there was no better partner for them, so they loved each other.  


To have a child so early in a relationship was nearly unheard of, most high elves waited for at least 3 centuries of marriage to even begin planning for a family, but Arianwen and Angwyn knew that they were ready and achieved pregnancy after just 10 years of trying. Immediately after she was born, they gave Aelwyn to a nanny to be cared for. She was immediately taught how to speak, read, play instruments all to make them proud. Starting at age 2, every night, she would be led out in front of her parents in the drawing room and had to tell them all she had achieved that day. If she had gone above and beyond or otherwise earned praise from the nanny and staff, Angwyn would look up from his paper and say “Well done” or Arianwen would pat her head and Aelwyn learned. Her parents love and affection was easily earned, all she had to be was exceptional.  


So exceptional she was.  


By the time she was two and a half, she read at a kindergarten level, she could play the oboe and piano, she was doing pirouettes and arabesques with the best of them. Anything to earn her “Well done”. She didn’t understand why Mother and Father needed another child. She was perfect. Nanny told her she should be proud to have a little sister so close to her in age, she was lucky to have one at all. So, Aelwyn decided she would apply herself further and be the best big sister there was.  


She was in the room when Adaine was born, her father sat her down and told her that she would be a good girl and stand quietly while mother gave birth. She and her father stood to the side, stone faced as her mother struggled on the bed. Sweating and ruddy faced, her mother sat up on bed taking deep breaths. Arianwen had refused magic and medicine during this birth, determined to make it through on her own strength. The labor was long, but not once did Arianwen scream. After 8 hours, she pushed a wailing, flailing pink thing into the world. A baby. Her little sister. Aelwyn was allowed to see her little sister after she had been cleaned and she tentatively stepped forward, holding her fathers hand, the first time she could remember doing so. A stool was brought out for her to stand on, and even then she had to stretch to see above the edge of the bassinet, but when she looked inside she was immediately infatuated. Adaine was sleeping then, her eyes closed tight. Her too-big-for-her-head ears peaking out between swirls of blonde hair that crept down towards her large, pink cheeks. Slowly, Aelwyn reached out a hand, worried her parents would yell at her for daring to touch something so obviously precious. She looked up at her dad and he nodded, urging her on, so she put her finger to Adaine’s hand. The small, soft fist grasped close around it and Aelwyn gasped. Angwyn leaned forward to brush a stray hair out of Adiane’s face and she woke up then, finger still wrapped around Aelwyn’s hand. Her big, blue eyes blinked up at Aelwyn and then flashed to Angwyn, who was still leaning forward, and she began to cry.  


“Ugh, take care of it would you?” Arianwen winced at the baby’s cry and looked over to the nanny who had been waiting to the side.  
“Yes, ma’am.” The severe looking elf said, scurrying over and picking up Adaine.  
Aelwyn quickly removed her finger from Adaine’s grip, which caused her to cry more.  
“Take Aelwyn too.” Arianwen picked up a notebook from the table beside her and began scribbling in it as the Nanny took Aelwyn by the wrist and began dragging her out of the room. 

“Why does the baby cry?” Aelwyn asked the Nanny a few weeks after Adaine was born. Her parents hated crying, which is why she never did it, and she couldn’t wrap her mind around why the little creature would continue doing something that upset her parents.  
“Well, babies can’t speak when they’re first born. They have to learn as they grow up, but they still need things and want things, so until they learn how to ask for them, they cry.”  
“She doesn’t cry when _I’m_ around.” Aelwyn said proudly, ears pricking up.  
“That must mean that she’s getting everything she needs from you.”  


Aelwyn decided to do what she could do make sure that Adaine never wanted, so she’d never have to cry again. Nanny must have noticed because she praised Aelwyn later that week for being so helpful. Aelwyn stood with her chest puffed out a bit, thinking her father would say “Well Done” or that her mother would reach out to pat her, but her father rustled his newspaper and sighed.  


“Aelwyn, dear. We don’t need you to take care of the baby. The time you’re spending with the baby could be spent bettering yourself.” Her mother said.  
“Remember Aelwyn, at all times, you should be working to improve yourself. If you aren’t improving, you’re of no use.” Angwyn spoke from behind the paper.  
“Oh… Yes, Mother. Yes, Father. I understand.”  


She didn’t really. She thought she had been useful by taking care of Adaine, but her parents told her not to, to improve herself, so she did. She doubled her efforts in her lessons and activities and when her powers began to show themselves, she immediately went to work learning how to control them. Uncontrolled power was an embarrassment according to Arianwen.  


She watched from afar as Adaine grew, hearing her babble her first words to Nanny as she studied magic, saw her take her first, stumbling steps as she practiced violin. Soon, she was speaking in fractured sentences and able to take tottering steps around the house, but she kept crying. When Nanny told her that she couldn’t see Father because he was away for work. When Mother told her not to bother her in her study. When she fell. Aelwyn found herself bristling whenever she saw Adaine crying. She could tell others what she needed now and take care of some of those needs herself! There was no reason to cry. She began working harder, hoping to show Adaine how to properly act, but she never really got the chance. They were given separate tutors and were never allowed to do the same activities at the same time, so the only times they really saw each other were at meals and eventually, the nightly check in.  


The first time Adaine had a check in was after her first full week of lessons and Aelwyn remembered how wrong she got it all. Their nannies waited in the hallway with them as the other house staff went in to talk to her parents and Adaine was excitedly whispering to her nanny the whole time.  


“Am I really going to see them?”  
“Yes, Adaine. You’ll get to go in to your parents and tell them all about what you did this week.” Her nanny sighed deeply, obviously tired of the hyper child, but Adaine kept whispering to her.  


“Quiet Time Adiane, please.” So, Adaine bounced up and down on her toes a bit, arms swinging around her. Aelwyn couldn’t help but scoff a little. Adaine’s nanny was obviously not doing a good job of teaching her self-control. But the scoff was heard by Adaine, who turned around to see Aelwyn, standing beside her own Nanny.  


“Aelwyn, hi!”  
“Hello Adaine.” Aelwyn found herself talking to her little sister, hoping to quiet her a bit.  
“Aelwyn, we’re going to see Mother _and_ Father!” Adaine grinned brightly.  
“Yes, but we have to be quiet for them, okay Adaine?”  
“Okay! I can be quiet.” The little girl twisted a bit, playing with her skirt and Aelwyn breathed a sigh of relief, until she spoke again. “What’s going to happen?”  
“We’re going to tell them all we’ve done this week. Just watch and see what I do, and then you’ll know what to do.”  
It was finally their turn to enter the library with their caregiver’s and teachers and stand before their parents.  
“So Aelwyn, what have you accomplished with your time this week?” Arianwen asked.  


The five-year-old stepped forward and flattened a slight wrinkle in her dress before speaking. “I rode Percival through the course and shaved a minute off of our normal time. I have been attending archery lessons and have hit the bullseye on the marker 10 times out of 10. In my humanities classes, I recited a poem in Old High Elvish with no mistakes, we have progressed to the history of Fallinel after the lesser elves were driven out, and I now speak Common at a beginner’s level.”  


“Is that so?” Arianwen asked, switching to Common.  
“Yes, mother. Mr. Erwiaunon said that I am learning quickly.” Aelwyn spoke, struggling to get her mouth to make the right shapes and hoping that her mother wouldn’t try to speak to her more in the language.  
“Well done, Aelwyn.”  
“Yes, very good.”  


Adaine stood to the side looking between her parents and her older sister, excitedly. It was her first times in the room with both parents, and she had just learned that her sister had done so much in just a week! She began to bounce again, eager to tell her parents what she had done that week.  


“What have you accomplished Adaine?”  


Aelwyn stepped back, content that she had shown her sister what was expected at the check-ins and looked to her, waiting to see what she would say.  


“I learned about countries and space and how to swim and how to paint and how to play the piano!” Adaine began listing off everything she had done that week, nearly bursting out of her shoes with the speed of her bouncing.  


Bewildered, Aelwyn looked to her parents and found that her father had put down his evening paper for the first time, his face was going red. Arianwen’s expression was unreadable, but Adaine’s nanny’s was clear. The woman grabbed Adaine and pulled her back, shushing her. She looked back up at the Abernant’s, panicked.  


“We thought we made ourselves clear about our expectations.” Arianwen spoke evenly, adjusting her glasses as she fixed her sights on the Nanny.  
“You have ma’am, very clear ma’am.”  
“Then what on earth was that?” Angwyn wasn’t yelling exactly, but his voice was raised beyond anything Aelwyn had ever heard.  
“I’m sorry sir, she’s just so excited. I told her that she was going to see her parents tonight, and I don’t think she heard anything past that.”  
“You’ll do well to stop this sort of behavior in the future, or you will be replaced.”  
“Yes, Mr. Abernant. I apologize, this won’t happen again.”  
“You’re right, it won’t.”  


Adaine looked around bewildered and saw Aelwyn looking straight ahead. She tried getting her attention, hoping she could explain what she had done wrong, but Aelwyn didn’t move as Angwyn spoke.  


Arianwen sighed and kneeled in front of Adaine, grabbing her by the shoulder.  
“In the future, when you are brought to us, you will speak calmly and slowly, in complete sentences- not running on and blathering like you did just then. Do you understand?”  


“But-“  
“That was a yes or no question, Adaine.” Angwyn glared down at her.  
“Y-Yes?”  
“Was that an answer or a question, Adaine?”  
“An answer.”  
“Then do not pose it as a question.”  
“Yes, father.”  


Arianwen continued speaking to Adaine as if she had not been interrupted.  


“The nightly check-ins are not a social gathering. We did not bring you here to waste our time with all the mundane things you did with your day or week, so at future check-ins, you will only tell us the things that are important and impressive.”  


“I- I thought the things I said were impressive.” Adaine sniffled slightly and Aelwyn flinched.  


Arianwen got up and went to join Angwyn on the sofa. Angwyn shot a withering glare to Adaine and her Nanny.  


“If you cannot tell the difference between the impressive and unimpressive, you’ve not been taught well. I think we have much to discuss, Arianwen.”  
“Yes, dear. I believe we do.”  


And with that, Aelwyn and Adaine were dismissed, back to their sleeping quarters. As they walked through the halls, nannies at their side, Aelwyn heard Adaine sniffle again, louder this time. She turned to see large tears working their way down her cheek and the little girl began to wail.  
Her nanny pulled her to the side and grabbed her arm, hard.  


“Stop it. You’re making an embarrassment of yourself- and me!”  


Aelwyn had stopped to watch this interaction and began to move forward, to- she wasn’t exactly sure what she was going to do, but she knew she wanted to be by Adaine’s side at this moment, but her Nanny pulled her along, saying “That doesn’t concern you, Aelwyn.”  


The next night, Aelwyn saw an immediate difference in Adaine’s behavior. The girl who had been nearly bouncing off the walls the day before was now still and quiet. She stood next to her Nanny and was looking down at her shoes.  


_Good! She’s learning._ Aelwyn thought with relish. _Hopefully she did something today that will impress mother and father, to make up for yesterday._  


Aelwyn herself didn’t earn a "well done" that day, she hadn’t made any great advancements on her language studies and during her riding lesson, she fell off. She stepped back after listing the things she had done and waited for Adaine to speak.  


“Today I read a book and swam the length of the pool without any assistance.” Adaine quietly offered, looking to her teachers for encouragement, but her parents bristled.  


“Why are we hearing this?” Angwyn asked, incredulous.  
“Well, sir, it’s rather impressive for someone her age-“ Her tutor began to speak, but was cut off by Arianwen.  
“Reading and swimming? Aelwyn could do all those things at two as well. If Adaine does nothing extraordinary with her day, it can’t be helped, but don’t praise her for something so banal.”  


That’s how it went for a while. Every night, Aelwyn would list off the things she had done with her day, sometimes she would earn praise, but most nights she wouldn’t. Adaine would do the same, but she never got praise. The few times Aelwyn thought she would, one of her parents would point out that she had done something similar before and sometimes earlier.  


One day, as Aelwyn sat through a history lesson, she looked out the window to see Adaine at her riding lesson. She was struggling to stay on the horse and the instructor was obviously yelling at her, frustrated at her clumsiness. Even from that far away, Aelwyn could tell that Adaine was shaking, crying. Shaking her head, she turned back to her lesson thinking:  


_When is she going to grow up?_


	2. Childhood pt.1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aelwyn and Adaine grow up and the divide between them grows as well. As Aelwyn grows she begins to see some disparities between her relationship with her parents and their relationship with everyone else.

Aelwyn continued to work hard to make her parents proud of her, to earn their love. When she was 7, she was allowed to join them at meals, provided that she stayed quiet and not make a mess- an easy enough task. She didn’t realize at first that it would mean no more meals with Adaine, but she figured it would only be 2 years until Adaine could join them too.  


_Plus, a few years of meals alone could be good for her._ Aelwyn reasoned. She had eaten alone for her first few years too and she had been fine. Loneliness builds character. _And, it’s not like she isn’t alone for most of the rest of the day. What’s three more hours?_  


Her first breakfast with her parents was awkward to say the least. 5 years of meals with Adaine had gotten her used to a steady stream of chatter, that she often indulged by speaking with her. Her parents didn’t really speak much at breakfast, not past “Pass the butter” and telling the servants to take their plates when they were done. Aelwyn sat quietly, sometimes stealing glances at her mother to see how she was doing, but none of her parents glanced her way, both of them intently focused on their own tasks. Her mother was writing in a notebook as she always was, and Angwyn was leafing through reports for work. At the end of breakfast, her father looked up from his papers and said,  


“That was a very pleasant breakfast. Thank you for being so well-behaved, Aelwyn. You are dismissed.”  


She walked through the halls towards her and her sisters wing of the house, playing the breakfast back in her mind. She had been so tempted to break the silence and ask her parents what they were doing or about aspects of their lives, to tell them about hers, anything to break the silence, but she had held back.  


“A very pleasant breakfast”, her father had said. She was pleasant and well-behaved by being quiet. So, questioning them would have been a mistake, it would have made her unpleasant and would have upset them. The next morning, she brought a book down to breakfast with her to occupy her time, so she wouldn’t be tempted to speak. Never upset Mother and Father- another simple rule.  


Later that day, during a break between her classes, she walked past Adaine- tucked into a corner. She was huddled around her legs, sniffling to herself. Aelwyn sighed to and walked over to Adaine.  


“What _are_ you doing?”  


Adaine looked up, first bewildered, then confused.  


“You’re okay?”  
Aelwyn couldn’t help but laugh.  


“Of course, I’m alright. What are you talking about?”  
“You weren’t at any of the meals yesterday, and you weren’t at breakfast or lunch today. You only miss meals when you’re sick.”  
“Don’t be ridiculous Adaine, you thought I was sick so you’re crying in the hallway?”  
“Nanny doesn’t like it when I cry.”  
“No one likes it Adaine.”  


Adaine looked up at her older sister, taken aback. Aelwyn looked back at her imperiously. When was her little sister going to learn?  


“I’ve been taking my meals with Mother and Father the last few days because _I’m_ mature and pleasant to be around. If you keep behaving like a baby, you’ll never be invited to meals with them and you’ll have to keep eating alone forever.”  
At this Adaine scrambled up. “I’m not a baby!” she said, incredulous while wiping her cheeks.  


“You’re behaving like one.” Even now, angry tears were forming in Adaine’s eyes. “Stop crying and start applying yourself to your studies, and you can join us at meals.” The tears started falling and Aelwyn shook her head.  
“Honestly Adaine. It’s like you’re not even trying.” 

Aelwyn walked off to her next lesson, leaving her sister in the hallway, happy to have given a lesson of her own. The world was made up of harsh truth’s and simple rules and Adaine needed to learn them, quickly, if she was ever going to make it.  


That night as they waited for their check in, Adaine stood, staring resolutely forward, not moving when Aelwyn tried to get her attention.  


“Adaine?” She held her hand below waist-level, shielding her casting hand with her non-dominant one as she used the cantrip. Adaine shook her head slightly, ignoring the message.  
Aelwyn tried again, “Adaine?”, and still got no reply. _Fine_ , she thought. _If she’s still upset by my advice earlier, that’s her problem_.  


The check in itself was uneventful until Adaine’s tutor stepped forward. Adaine had been disallowed from giving her own check-ins due to the repeated mistakes. Her tutors had been replaced and had been instructed to give updates for her, only mentioning the extremely impressive or extremely disappointing things Adaine had done. Usually, they didn’t have much to say other than “Adaine is applying herself in her studies”, but that night, her Magical Art’s tutor stepped forward to tell the Abernant’s that Adaines magical powers had begun to show themselves.  


“Hmm, Aelwyn’s started to show up when she was 3 and a half.” Arianwen said, looking down at Adaine.  


The tutor shifted in his spot. “Yes, sir. Be that as it may, I believe that Adaine may prove to be a very powerful magic user. She has the makings of a great wizard. I don’t know what caused her power to be suppressed until now, but I think we can make up for lost time.”  


“See that you do, we have no use in a weak child. I want you to create a rigorous training schedule for Adaine and bring it to me for approval. Work with the other tutors to ensure that this regime is interdisciplinary as well.”  
“Yes, sir.”  


Angwyn was eyeing Adaine now. _Is this going to be her first well done?_ Aelwyn began to search her memory for the other times when Adaine had earned their parent’s approval and couldn’t think of one. _Well, being called a powerful wizard is definitely worthy of a well done. And then I can congratulate her and she won’t be mad at me anymore._  


“If that is all, you’re dismissed.” Angwyn said, returning to his evening paper.  
The teaching staff began to walk out, ushering the girls out with them and Aelwyn and Adaine went to bed.  


Aelwyn tossed and turned that night, wondering why her parents hadn’t praised her sister. She had always assumed that her parents were fair in their praise. Harsh, but fair. Why should Adaine get praised for things that Aelwyn had done before her? Why should she get praised for eventually reaching goals that her parents had set when Aelwyn achieved them near instantaneously? But Aelwyn had never been called a potentially “very powerful magic user”. She was a good wizard, maybe even great, but she had to work at it. Aelwyn had never even seen Adaine use magic before, she’d heard her parents speaking during meals sometimes, wondering if Adaine _could_ do magic, the shame it would bring on their family if she never developed powers. Whatever power Adaine had had come on suddenly and it was enough to impress the very accomplished tutor they had gotten her- shouldn’t that have been enough for them?  


Sometimes, Aelwyn imagined her parents’ approval as a bar hanging over her head. Before, it stood above her head, but not too far; she could reach it by stretching or standing on her tip-toes on days when she felt especially small, but now she imagined Adaine next to her. Little Adaine couldn’t reach the bar, even as she rised up onto her toes. That was to be expected. She was a baby- useless. Today though... Today had been like if Adaine jumped up to reach the bar. She should have been able to reach it, but her parents had raised it further. If it had gone higher for Adaine, it had also gone higher for her.  


Aelwyn watched the bar lifting up, higher, higher and felt herself beginning to shrink down. When she looked over, she and Adaine were at the same level.  


The next morning, Aelwyn searched through her bookshelf for an advanced spellbook, something to help her learn about spellcasting on a practical level. She brought it down to breakfast with her and studied it throughout the meal, focusing on the intricacies of the hand movements, the exact pronunciation of the spell words in both Elvish and Common.  


Near the meals end, her father looked up and noticed her book.  


“Very good, Aelwyn!” He sounded more impressed than he ever had, causing her mother to look up.  
“Oh yes, it’s good to see you applying yourself to your studies at all times.” She said appreciatively.  
“Thank you, Mother. Thank you, Father.” She beamed up at them, glad to know that her efforts were recognized, but a knot began to form in her stomach. The praise somehow didn’t feel as good as it used to.  


She watched Adaine over the next few years, especially in the rare moments where she interacted with their parents. It was so odd. From what she gathered, Adaine was actually a capable girl and a good wizard, but as soon as she stepped in front of her parents, she changed, second guessing herself or hesitating.  


_Wouldn’t a normal person want to put their best foot forward when their parents are around?_  


Once, Mother had them put on a concert for visiting dignitaries and as Adaine sat in front of the piano, she just froze. Aelwyn was watching from the doorway, having escaped to the bathroom after her own performance (which the guests had praised, of course). From her position, she could see a shadow cross over Adaine’s face. Her eyes widened and her hands shook above the keys.  


Across the room, Arianwen watched passively as Adaine sat at the piano, but a sneer was working its way across Angwyn’s face.  


“It looks as though Adaine has deemed us unworthy of a concert tonight. My apologies Ambassador Rangirdon.” He bowed slightly to the dwarf who laughed jovially.  
“That’s quite alright, the poor dear probably has stage fright.”  
“Yes, we’ll have to work on that. Adaine, you may go.” The music instructor swooped in, hissing something in Adaine’s ear as they went.  


“We still got hear a delightful performance from your eldest daughter! Excellent job, little one.” The Dwarven Ambassador looked up to Aelwyn who curtsied to the guest and his husband who nodded in approval at her.  


After Adaine left the room, she watched her parents interacting with the high-class visitors. They had explained the night before that they were to be on their best behavior and to treat them with the utmost respect, but still she saw a glint of disgust in her parents’ eyes.  


Over dinner sometimes, her parents discussed politics and culture and though Aelwyn thought politics were boring, she still listened intently and from what she surmised, her parents thought Dwarves were backwards at best and savages at worst. She was learning about the other races in her humanities lessons and the tutor had said that high elves were the most advanced race; that their history, beauty, gentility, and culture was superior to all others, even wood elves, the closest to them in history and genealogy had become a sad shadow of their high elven counterparts, but still her parents were acting deferential towards these lowly beings.  


She supposed Dwarves couldn’t be too bad. Though they spent their lives wiggling through the dirt like worms, they did so to find beautiful things like jewels and metals that they then crafted into weapons and other useful tools. Aewlyn excused herself at her bed time and walked towards her quarters. As she headed to her room, she heard music coming from her sister’s study room.  


Sneaking closer, she could hear that the music better. It was very well-played piano music. She slowly nudged the door open, just enough for her to peek through.  
Inside the room, she saw her sister sitting on the bench, fingers flowing swiftly across the piano’s keys. Her instructor stood to the side of her, a tired look on his face.  


“You _can_ play it! Why couldn’t you do this in there?”  
The song came to an end and Adaine sat quietly on the bench, still looking at the music in front of her.  


“We worked so hard on this piece for weeks Adaine! What happened out there?”  
“I don’t know.” She finally spoke, but her voice came out a broken whisper.  
“What do you mean you ‘don’t know’?”  
“I couldn’t-“ Adaine’s voice cut off as her throat closed with tears.  


“You need to do better than ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I couldn’t’ Adaine. Give me something to explain to your parents why you can play perfectly well right now, but faltered out there?”  
She sniffled but gave no other reply.  


“You’re 6 years old Adaine, your parents expect a lot of you, but I know you can do better than this. Go to bed and think about what you could’ve done differently.”  
The girl rose from her seated position and left the room. Aelwyn melted back into the shadows, watching her sister as she passed. Her seventh birthday was in a few days and she’d finally join the rest of the family in meals. How would those meals transpire if Adaine kept being such a disappointment?  


***  


On Adaines birthday, Aelwyn got up early to sneak over to her sisters’ room.  


“Psst. Adaine.” Aelwyn carefully crawled onto the bed. It was her first time in her sisters’ room in a few years and she was surprised by how much had changed. Gone were the wooden blocks and other educational tools that had once been spread around the room. Adaine’s room was now a miniature library, floor to ceiling bookshelves stood at nearly every wall. A desk was on one side of the room, on it were papers of all sorts, but underneath it- where one would usually put their legs as they sat at it- was blocked off by a blanket. At the large bay window on the far end of the room a telescope was set up, but it wasn’t pointed at the sky.  


“Adaine, wake up.” Aelwyn spoke slightly louder and Adaine began to shift. Looking down at Adaine as she slept, Aewlyn was reminded of when she first saw Adaine. She was bigger now, but Adaine’s cheeks were still that bright pink and her ears were still just a bit too big for her head. As she slept, one hand was resting on her stomach, slowly raising with her gentle breaths, and the other hand was lying near Aelwyn’s. Tentatively, Aelwyn reached her hand out to touch her little sisters’, but as her hand drew near, Adaine’s closed into a fist, which the startled girl used to pushed herself up.  


“What are you doing in here?”  


“I came to wish you a happy birthday and to give you a little advice for your first meal with our parents.”  
“Why?” Adaine was miffed, confused about why her usually distant sister was suddenly acting so helpful.  
“Well, I don’t want you to mess it up.” Even without meaning to, Aelwyn always sounded so superior. She winced slightly as she heard the words come out of her mouth.  


“Oh, so you think I’m just destined to screw everything up?”  
“I mean, based on history- yes.” Adaine was getting angry, which angered Aelwyn in turn. _I’m just trying to do a nice thing for once!_ The situation was spiraling out of control.  


“Never mind that. Here.” Aelwyn picked up the book next to her and shoved it into Adaine’s hands. “Mother and Father don’t like mindless conversation at meals, so it’s best to have something to occupy yourself.”  


Adaine was still bristling, but she could see that Aelwyn was trying her best.  


“Thank you.” Adaine said stiffly. She looked down at the book and began to brush her hand over the intricate swirls carved into the books cover.  
The two sat in silence for a while and Aelwyn desperate for contact, began to speak.  
“What’s that?” she pointed at the covered section of the desk, drawing Adaine’s attention away from the book.  


A small smile crept across her face.  
“I call it Adaine’s Agreeable Abode.”  
“What?” the elder girl giggled at the proud look on the younger’s face.  


“Well, my teacher told me about Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion and I wanted to make my own.”  
“That’s a seventh level spell, Adaine!” Aelwyn jumped up and ran over to the desk. _Can Adaine really cast a seventh level?_ She lifted the sheet, ignoring the protests of Adaine and saw a bunch of pillows and a small light underneath the desk.  


“I thought you said it was a Magnificent Mansion?”  
“I made my own version… the spell didn’t work.” Aelwyn’s heart slowed a bit and she felt herself breath again. She hadn’t even noticed that she’d stopped.  
“You’re so ridiculous! This is just a fort!”  


Adaine crossed her arms. “It’s Adaine’s Agreeable Abode! I made it up so I get to call it what I want. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a breakfast to get ready for.” She watched from her bed as Aelwyn walked out of the room, then headed to the bathroom attached to her room.  


Aelwyn waited til she heard the shower start, then snuck back into the room. She shook her head as she passed the “Agreeable Abode” and headed to the telescope. Kneeling to see through the scope without jostling it too much, Aelwyn looked to see what her sister had set her sights on, but there was nothing before her. Just an endless horizon.


	3. Adolescence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arianwen becomes more distant, leading to a peculiar incident between her and Angwyn.

Mother was being distant. Apparently, she’d made some major discovery in her research and it was consuming her. She’d stop coming to meals and had missed the last two check-ins as well.

The first night she’d missed, Angwyn waited for her for over an hour. They were partners after all and both equally invested in ensuring their household was running properly and that their girls were on a steady path to greatness, but Arianwen never showed. He was very irritable by the time Aelywn and Adaine were brought before him, his paper lay forgotten on his lap as his fingers tapped an unsteady beat into the arm of his chair. 

“Well?” He spat out at the girls before him. 

Aelwyn stepped forward cautiously, she’d never seen her father this on edge and she wasn’t sure what to do without her mother there. Usually, Arianwen sat there quietly watching them as their father read and Aelwyn addressed her updates to her mother, but this time she’d have to look her father in his eyes as she said, “I’ve no significant updates father.” 

He made a noise of disappointment and Aelwyn stepped back, lowering her head. _Please, Adaine. Let’s just finish this fast._ The girl had been reallowed to give her own updates late the year before, but usually didn’t give one, since most of the things she said were dismissed by her parents.

Today though, Adaine stepped forward, fist clenched close to her sides. 

“I wanted to discuss the possibility of getting a new history and humanities tutor, father.” 

“What?” 

“This is _not_ the time, Adaine.” Aelwyn messaged to her sister, incredulous. There quite literally had never been a worse time, not that Aelwyn could recall. _Was there even a good time?_ she asked herself and found her question echoed in Adaine’s reply. 

“There’s never a good time.” Adaine looked her father in the eye as she messaged Aelwyn back, then she spoke to him. 

“I find the education I’m receiving from Mr. Trineaolin to be subpar and would like to request someone new.”

Angwyn’s hands were gripping the chair’s arms so hard that Aelwyn thought it would break.

“And what, may I ask, is subpar about his lessons? Your mother and I chose all of your teachers by hand, are you suggesting that we have chosen poorly?”

“Not at all Father, it’s just… From my independent research, I believe that Mr. Trineaolin is too biased to properly give an education about the ways of the world. He hasn’t even left Fallinel, yet he talks about how much better off we are and how lowly the other races are.” 

Her father scoffed at this. “Your ‘independent research’ is nothing compared to the combined 7 centuries of experience between the three of us. Have you ever considered Adaine, that maybe he teaches you these things because they are true? One does not need to have left Fallinel to know that we are far superior in every respect to the other races and to other countries. Whatever research you’ve been doing has led you astray Adaine and you’ll do well to remember that you know nothing, have done nothing, and effectively are nothing.”

Adaine breathing was shallow and low, but from this close, Aelwyn could tell that she was hyperventilating.

She swallowed hard before speaking again. 

“I would like a new teacher, Father, and I would ask you to discuss the possibility of my getting one with Mother.” She was no longer looking Angwyn in the eye and Aelwyn could see a smirk forming on her father’s face as he looked at her sister’s bowed head.

“No, Adaine. I don’t believe I will bring this up to your mother. She’s too busy with her work right now to be bothered by this nonsense. My decision on this is final- you will under no circumstances receive a new history tutor, you will also lose reading privileges for all books that are not directly related to your studies and chosen by your teachers and myself.”

His angry smirk grew as Adaine stood before him, still hyperventilating quietly. 

“What? No reply? No more ridiculous requests?” He waited for a reply, then barked out, “Well?!” when none came. 

“No, Father. I have no further requests.”

“Then you are dismissed. Goodnight.” He picked up his newspaper and began to flip through the pages loudly. 

“What the hell Adaine?!” Aelwyn still had the message open with her sister and was rapidly sending her questions. “What were you thinking?”

“I was tired of sitting through that man’s lessons, he’s so full of vitriol it’s hard to stomach. The books I’ve been reading are so much better.”

“What books?”

Adaine ushered Aelwyn into her room and headed to a pile of books in her “Abode”. She reached out to grab one, but her hand was rebuffed by a force field that let out a loud “ZAP!” as she touched it.

“Ouch!” She tentatively stretched a finger toward the book and another zap filled the air. Turning to Aelwyn she said, “I don’t know Mage Hand yet, can you get it?”

Looking around to make sure the door was closed, Aelwyn created an invisible hand in the air and used it to fly the book over to her. 

“Go to page 158. I bookmarked it.”

Aelwyn flipped through the book to the page with the little tassel poking out of it and saw sticky notes covering the page. 

“See! These say that all the races are equal and that even though we’re different everyone has something they’re good at.”

Aelwyn kept turning the pages, surprised to see the book praising races she had only ever seen described as monstrous before. From her lessons, she’d always imagined orcs and goblins as ugly and uncivilized, but the book showed pictures of them with things she’d never even seen before or doing things she did too! 

Adaine walked closer to look at the book over Aelwyn’s shoulder. 

“It also talks about the history of elves- stuff my tutor never mentioned before.” 

“Can I borrow this?” Aelwyn ventured, curious to see the forbidden knowledge.

“Sure, it’s not like I’ll be getting much use out of it for now. There’s more if you want. Some focus on Fallinel specifically.”

Aelwyn nodded and spent the next few minutes picking several books off of Adaine’s overloaded shelves. She carefully made her way down the hall to her room, setting the books down gently. She read all through the night, only stopping to get a short rest before breakfast. The book was so eye-opening that she didn’t want to read anything else, so she brought it to breakfast with her after casting prestidigitation on the cover to obscure its true nature. 

Her mother was still in her study when she went down, and she, Adaine, and her father sat through a tense breakfast. She could see him getting more and more angry as the minutes passed. At breakfast’s end, he dismissed them, and she saw him head to her mothers’ study. It was down the hall from the main staircase which led to their quarters. 

Aelwyn’s first lesson of the day was art, a subject she excelled at… she could stand to be a little late, right? She let Adaine walk ahead of her, pretending to be wrapped up in her book, but from the corner of her eye she watched as he knocked at the door. Adaine turned the corner and there were no servants around, so she sat near the top of the stairs, still looking down at her book but not seeing anything on the page. 

Angwyn knocked on the door again, then pressed his lips to the door when it wasn’t answered.

“Arianwen, dear, I really must insist that you stop this now. Let me in.” 

”I’m busy, Angwyn. Leave me to my work.”

Frustrated, Angwyn threw the door open with magic. From her seat, Aelwyn could see papers scattered around the room with arcane symbols printed on them and a fire blazing in the study despite the summer heat. 

Arianwen looked up at the intrusion and it was obvious she hadn’t slept in some time. Her hair was disheveled and dark bags were growing under her eyes, which looked feverish. 

“Please Angwyn, I’m in the middle of something.” She was calm and passive as ever as she spoke, but her calmness was matched by Angwyn’s anger. Something had come over him and he rushed into her study and began throwing things around. 

“ _ **WHAT ON EARTH IS THIS?!**_ ” He bellowed. He clutched some papers in his hand and began shuffling through them and Aelwyn saw his eyes grow wide. 

He was shaking as he spoke again, much quieter now.

“How could you bring this into our home- **My** Home!” He shook the papers in her face, and she reached a hand out to lower them.

“I found it in the course of my research and now I’m so close to a break-through- to finding the truth. I could even find _him_!”

Angwyn dropped the papers and grabbed Arianwen’s wrist with lightning speed. 

**“This is forbidden! This knowledge was meant to be destroyed- forgotten and lost to time. We don’t _want_ to find him.**”

“ _I_ do! I could control him and use his power for the glory of Fallinel.”

“Are you mad, woman? Have you forgotten what happened the last time the Nightmare King walked the Earth? The destruction and death and decay? His last reign caused the Court of Stars to be founded- we’ve been working to keep anything like that from happening again. _I’ve_ been working to keep it from happening.”

He looked around the room wildly.

“ _You’ve destroyed me._ How do you think it will look to the higher-up’s when they learn that this ‘research’ has been going on under my nose for so long?” 

“They don’t have to know. This can stay between us until I’m ready to raise him.”

“ **No! _Enough!_** For my sake, for your sake, for this family’s sake. For the sake of every life on this planet, _enough_. This cannot continue, Arianwen.”

Angwyn began rushing around gathering the papers and relics. As his hands filled, he made several unseen servants and had them help him empty the room; Arianwen stood unmoving as he did so. It took several trips to empty the room, but soon he had everything in trunks lining the hall. On his final trip, he stopped by Arianwen and gently touched her shoulder, his anger slightly softened by the broken look on her face. 

“Get some rest, darling. We’ll discuss this later.” He moved as though to make a gesture of some sort, but hesitated and left, the many trunks trailing behind him as a carriage was pulled to the front door. The trunks glided in neatly and he rode off to Calethriel Tower. 

Aelwyn had sat, unnoticed on the staircase the entire time, listening to the odd exchange. She had never heard her parents argue before, and never once did she think that her parents could be involved in something illegal. She wasn’t sure what to think, she became lost in her thoughts and didn’t notice her mother until she was right upon her. 

“Anything interesting?” Came her mother’s usual even voice and Aelwyn jumped slightly, slamming the book closed. “In your book, I mean…”

“Oh-uh, no Mother. Nothing more than some history.” The grandfather clock in the main hall began to chime, warning her that she was late. 

“You’d better be off to class, Aelwyn.” Her mother looked down on her, calm as the ocean before a storm.

“Yes mother, I’ll see you at dinner?” Aelwyn hesitated, unsure if her mother was well enough for that. The way she looked, she would need a week’s worth of trance to get back to normal, or a very good heal. 

“Yes, dear. I’ll see you then.”

A week passed, then a month, then several. Neither parent mentioned the fight, and Adaine seemed none the wiser to it, but Aelwyn kept watching. Waiting for things to boil over. There was nothing until the check-in almost 6 months after the incident. 

“Girls, we have very big news to share with you.” Arianwen told them. 

“Yes, due to recent events,” Angwyn’s eyes flicked to his wife, “We’ll be moving. I have recently been _honored_ with the position of Fallinelian Ambassador. In a week’s time, we’ll begin living in Solace.” He paused to let the new sink in, then continued. 

“Things will be very different in Solace. Because this change was so sudden, we were not able to procure visas for our servants, so they will not be joining us. Due to this, you will be attending a school. Hudol Private school, to be exact.”

“I will also be joining you at Hudol, in the upper levels. I’ll be a professor of Arcane Archeology, but you both will be in the lower schools. Adaine, you’ll be starting in 4th grade and Aelwyn, you’ll be in 6th.” 

Aelwyn and Adaine looked at each other, they’d read books from other nations before, so they knew what a school was, but they’d always taken private lessons, always had a cadre of servants around at all times.

“For this final week, we’ve asked your tutors to give you lessons on Solesian etiquette and culture, and I’ve arranged for the two of you to be given some Solesian technology. It’ll be useless here, but you’ll be able to get used to them, and research what they’re for.”

“Now, in Solace, we’ll be interacting with the public as representatives of Fallinel, but more importantly, _you_ will be acting as representatives of us. At every moment, I want you to remember that. When you step out of the house, you will be representing to all of Solace what a Fallinelian is like and showing them all how we raised you, so you must always look and act your best. Any slip ups and failures will reflect directly onto us and our nation, so we will not be accepting anything but your best behavior. Is this understood?” 

“Yes Father.” The girls said in unison. They were each given a small crystalline bauble and a series of books to read in order to learn how to control them and the other crystalline technology popular in the part of Solace they were going to, Elmville. 

“Good, now before you go, you’ll be measured for your Hudol uniform. After that, right to bed.” Arianwen ushered in the assistant seamstress who had been sent to do their measurements and she and Angwyn left the girls to be measured. 

The assistant seamstress was a nervous human, but she worked quickly, then spent a little time explaining the crystals to them when she saw Aelwyn and Adaine’s curious expressions. By the time the two of them headed to bed, they’d been given a rudimentary explanation of the crystals and “social media”, as well as of arcane vehicles, schools, and pop music. 

That night, Aelwyn dreamed of what her new life in Elmville would be like. The friends she would make and the things she would do. She’d be the top of her class, learn how to drive an arcane vehicle, go to concerts, everything. Solace was going to be a place for new starts, a bright future. 


End file.
